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Muscle Maven – 28 March 2016

I owe you all an apology. Last week I didn’t write a post – not even a ‘Sorry, I am knackered/not well – will write next week’. I should have and I am sorry – like you I am human and we all make mistakes.

Anyway – I actually wanted to write about last weekend as it was a bit of a corker. On Saturday I ran RockSolidRace (an OCR) with my brothers. We tackled the 15k course and absolutely froze our balls off (by all accounts there were many who suffered with hypothermia, although I imagine this was the initial stages). I love this OCR (although I am yet to do any others) and I imagine the atmosphere to be the same at them all. Everyone is smiling (despite the cold) – there is a real ‘we are in this together’ feeling and we all help each other out when needed (except in the showers afterwards – prison rules then apply!).

So after the race I then headed up to Wales with my friend (Bruce) to stay overnight and have a day of off road racing at the Walters Arena. What a day! Essentially you race around a 7 mile circuit through woodland, over rocks, down amazingly steep slopes, over jumps etc for a timed lap. You then have around 30 mins or so to carry out whatever repairs you can and then back out you go. 8 laps in total.

Although it is a race it actually becomes more about if the car will survive. It takes a hell of a beating and for the most part these are cars that have been built or are maintained by the people racing them. There was a point on the very first lap when at the top of a very steep incline that also included a jump at the bottom that Bruce turned to me and said we had lost the brakes!

But this is what made it so good. As soon as you finish, you drive back into the ‘pits’ (well actually is was like a massive car park) to carry out the repairs and instantly you are surrounded by your fellow competitors with offers of help. These are the people you are racing against and here they are trying to help you out! Tools, equipment – whatever you need to try to help you finish the race (there were many that didn’t) – like the OCR the day before ‘we are in this together’.

The weekend left me exhausted. At a meeting in work on Monday afternoon it was all I could do to stay awake! Ended up going to bed extremely early as actually felt ill and this carried on into Tuesday – I guess I am not quite as good at recovery as I used to be.

Anyway, I digress – what really inspired me over the weekend was the togetherness of both occasions. Although we were competing against each other at both events nobody cared. We all wanted the same end result – to just complete the race and we wanted as many of our fellow competitors to be there with us. Getting there together felt much better than it would have simply getting there alone.

You see – I think fitness needs to be the same. More specifically fitness/diet coaches. Does it matter whether Joe Wicks advice is slightly skewed or that you disagree with sugar tax? How about we all work together as we are actually all fighting for the same goals – surely it would be better if we got there together (provided the advice isn’t dangerous or harmful)? I think for the most part we all pretty much agree on the basics and perhaps the advice for the general public may differ by around 10-20% from one coach to the next but does it really matter if the end result is the same? I could tell people to not eat carbs after 18:00 and I guarantee people would call me nuts and that this has been disproved years ago. What if I am trying to stop my client binging on ‘bad’ foods (yes I know before anyone points it out) in the evenings? I know there are other ways to do it, some may be better than others but the end result is still the same.

As mentioned previously – it is the very people we are trying to help that end up confused and alienated.

Lets just work together.

Ice Lolly

Who doesn’t love a cheap getaway? Worth checking this out. I have bagged 2 bargain holidays from this now. Went to Florida a couple of years ago for £500 (flights and accommodation) and am now off skiing for a week for £400 (flights, HB accommodation, transfers, ski hire, lift pass)! Great for late bargain deals – find yourself a nice little holiday away from the Easter rain!